Dulce Decorum Est. (It is sweet and becoming.)
by Lady DuCaine
Summary: Wildwing is in need to face the truth about his daughter's status and his own mortality.


Author's note: This story came from an online story chat that I did with a friend one day about couple of months ago.  
It was one of our good ones.  
But the basic idea of the story didn't really match well with what my real storyline was going at.  
So I placed it here where it will be seen by all.  
The copyrights are still the same as they all are on the other stories I post here.

Dulce Decorum Est.  
(It is sweet and becoming)

It was late when Wing went to sit on the couch and look at the picture of his daughter, over the last three years, he had begun to despise her power and status. Why did she have to be some powerful entity, why couldn't she just be his little girl till he died, why couldn't he have the chance to watch her get older and settle down to a normal life? He sighed deeply, how many times did he argue with Kaladan about it and how many times did he know she could not change a thing?  
There were times when he wished she was never born, that way he would not be going though such misery. What made life even worse is since the last fight with Kaladan he was now stuck on the cold hard couch, which was the same as how his heart felt.  
Drake One's sirens blazed though out the base, he half smiled to himself, fighting Dragaunus was one of the few pleasures he had these days, yet after each battle he seemed to loose himself more.  
They found Dragaunus and his henchmen at a museum; they were trying to get several mysterious artifacts. Wing gave the word to attack, which the Ducks lurched forward firing off pucks at the Saurians. Wing saw Dragaunus flee up the building with several artifacts. Wing raced for the fire escape ladder and started to climb up to the top of the building. He has expected to find just Dragaunus on the roof but instead there was both he and another creature. His scales were of a crimson red, and so were his dragon like wings, his clothes were that of silver that show even though there was no light, he had a white mane and piercing blue eyes. Then all went black.  
Dragaunus turned to his eldest brother, "Where did you send him, Falcon?"  
"I sent him to where he would be happy."  
Dragaunus looked at him then shook his head, "You have much to learn about being Saurian brother, and father is to blame for your odd upbringing."  
Falcon just chuckled as he faded away from sight. Dragaunus roared his retreat as he and the others all fled from the area.

* * *

Wildwing woke up in his bed, not knowing how he got there. He leapt out of bed and rushed to the recreation room to see his family sitting around the table. The first thing, he noticed was that Kaladan was not there, was he in another realm.  
"Wing! I'm so glad you woke up finally." cried Mallory, as she hugged him and then kissed his bill.  
"Is our fight over?" asked Wing, looking at her funny, realizing that she was probably his wife.  
"What fight?" Mallory asked.  
"The fight about Dawn." said Wing.  
"Wing, how could you! I thought we both promised never to think about her! It been over 30 years since she died!!" screamed Mallory, as she rushed from the room in tears.  
"Uh? Dawn is dead? I just..." said Wing, looking at the others. "How did she die?"  
"Wing, don't you remember? Dawn was stillborn after Mallory fought Dr. Droid, she gave birth. Dawn was not breathing and was pronounced...dead." said Dive. "Klegghorn tried for over ten minutes to keep her from dying but it was no use. She was dead. He blamed himself for her death and resigned from the force right after that. He said something about how could he let an innocent babe die. I'm not worthy of being a cop. Mallory tried to persuade him from his decision but he said what's done is done. We all tried to get him to return to the force or at least join in our fight against Dragaunus but he moved out of the city and from the reports we got a few years ago, the poor guy died in his bed. His daughter told us that he still blamed himself for Dawn's death, even at the end."  
Wing stood there still as stone, Dawn was dead, she's been dead since the start, hadn't this been what he wanted, the last thing he remember was that new Saurian. Wing thought if he saw the new Saurian then maybe they did as well. "Have you ever seen a Saurian that looked like this one? His scales were of a crimson red, and so were his dragon like wings, his clothes were that of silver that shown even though there was no light; he had a white mane and piercing blue eyes."  
"No, but why are you changing the subject on us. Tanya, I think Wing has a concussion from the battle. He has gone into the past." said Duke.  
Wing thought for a moment, "How can this be the past, tell me is there a drake by the name of Kasar around?"  
"Kasar who?" said Duke.  
"Wildwing, who is this Kasar fellow? We know most of the strike force members and there was no one by that name in the force. I would remember if there was one." spoke Canard.  
"Never mind, I need to apologize to Mallory." Wildwing walked out of the room and went to the room that he and Mallory shared to find her holding a pink baby blanket and crying into it. "I'm sorry Mallory; I wasn't thinking straight, the battle must have messed with my head."  
"I understand, but why did we have to lose her without a chance to love her. She was my firstborn and I lost her!" cried Mallory, leaning against him as she cried.  
Wing wrapped his arms around her. "What about Jonas, he's our firstborn son? We did lose Michael due of a miscarriage."  
"True but I had always hoped that our firstborn would be a girl." cried Mallory.  
"Maybe it was for the best, even if she wasn't still born, we would have lost her anyhow."  
Mallory looked at Wing. "Why would we have lost her anyhow?"  
"Um, she may have had a destiny bigger than we have hoped for. Mallory, have you ever seen a Saurian that looked like this one. His scales were of a crimson red, and so were his dragon like wings, his clothes were that of silver, he had a white mane and piercing blue eyes?"  
Mallory looked at him, "A glimpse just before I gave birth to her."  
"I saw him too, when I chased Dragaunus from the museum. He knocked me out...I think cause the next thing I knew I was in bed and back at the Pond. I didn't even remember getting back here." said Wildwing. "Is there any Saurian legend about that creature or even in our legends?"  
Mallory shook her head, "There is nothing on a creature like that, believe me I've looked."  
"Did you see him when you had miscarried our first son?" asked Wing.  
Mallory nodded, "Yes, but only in glimpses, Dragaunus was also never too far away either."  
"I think whenever we find Dragaunus...this miscarriage/stillborn creating Saurian will be near. I must ask are we expecting another child within six months, love?" asked Wing, looking at her.  
"Why are you asking me this?" asked Mallory. "I thought you knew. I'm sterile."  
Wing shrugged, "You never know, if this Saurian can cause stillbirth, maybe he can do the opposite as well?"  
"Are you suggesting that we seek him out and catch him? Force him to reverse my sterile womb to give us a chance at having a girl?" asked Mallory shocked.  
Wing shrugged, "That and I have a few questions for him on why things seem so upside down backwards."  
"Alright, let's get to Drake One and start the hunt for him." said Mallory, as they walked towards Drake One and started to do a massive search for the Saurians or any Saurians for that matter.  
To their dismay nothing came up, not a single clue. They altered the search to seek out anything that was emitting power in a strange fashion. They located a few sites but the level was not too high.  
"They are running on auxiliary power, Wing. Maybe we should check them all out just to be on the safe side?" asked Mallory.  
"I agree with you there, Mallory." said Wing.  
The ducks went to each place and found not one thing that would mark it as the Raptor. They had one place to go and they hoped that they would find something on the Saurians. Wing looked at Mallory and gave her a slight smile on his bill before he started to scan the area but found nothing.  
When they reached the third possible location, Wing scanned the area. Something showed up on Wing's mask, it was an odd energy signature, it was faint on his mask but it was not of any known origin. "I think I may have found the Raptor." Wing stated in a calm voice, pointing towards a building. "On my signal, fire the pucks at the Raptor."  
"But Wing, that's a paint building. We'll blow it up." said Tanya.  
"Possibly, but it's not a paint building. Fire now!" spoke Wing, as Mallory fired the pucks at the building.  
The building vanished to reveal the power source of the Raptor but instead it was an illusion of something else, the energy formed into a figure, it was the one both Wing and Mallory had seen; it approached them in a calm cool manner. Mallory lunged at him screaming at him demanding him to reveal why he took her children from her before she had a chance to love them. Wing couldn't have stopped her from going towards him. He looked at the Migrator and found it not moving at all. The Ducks within were still like statues.  
Wing turned towards Mallory and the Saurian to find him holding Mallory's face and belly before shoving her away where she fell to the ground in a heap. "What did you do to her!?" screamed Wing, going towards Mallory.  
Falcon looked at him, "She's asleep, for she was being very irrational."  
"Of course, she was being irrational. Wouldn't you be if you found the creature that caused you to birth a stillborn and have a miscarriage?" asked Wing, his temper was visible in his voice.  
"I did not...cause it; I was only there to make sure no anomalies happened, in your dimension Dawn was born at the exact time of a powerful being's death. In this Mallory's dimension, she was born two seconds before."  
"And so you were here to prevent Lady Peace's power from being transferred to the wrong Dawn, am I correct?" asked Wing, looking at him.  
Falcon shrugged, "I just didn't want anything to get nuts."  
"Oh, okay. Um, can I ask you a question without having you be offended by it?" asked Wildwing, looking at him.  
"As long as you keep your manners, it is hard to offend me, so go on right ahead."  
"Am I in a dimension where I never had a daughter to love? And that I am not married to Kaladan? And are you a Guardian like my daughter Dawn is?" asked Wildwing, looking at him.  
Falcon's eyes lit with amusement, "I'm not a Guardian, far from it. I'm a sorcerer, my power is limitless because I use the magic from Limbo it's self."  
"You brought me here to experience what life would be like without Dawn, right? Did a Guardian ask you to do this...like Fate, Life or even my daughter Dawn?" asked Wing.  
Falcon smiled, "I don't answer to any of them, I brought you here because I know you'll be happy. Please hear me out."  
"Alright I'm listening." snapped Wildwing.  
"When you were chasing Dragaunus, my little brother, you had a seizure, the end result is partial paralyses and a severe loss of memory, your counterpart on the other hand, overdosed on anti-depressants, not wanting to live, hoping each battle may be his last. You were switched around because you are needed here but not in the other dimension."  
Wing was shocked. "My counterpart is depressed because he lost his firstborn daughter?"  
"Yes, and you yourself have been depressed that she's what she is."  
"I guess I was depressed about what my baby girl was now. I suppose the other Wing is probably shocked to find that Dawn is alive in my dimension." spoke Wing, looking at Mallory and then to Falcon.  
Falcon spoke, "If he ever remembers anything, they've been losing the battles more and more these days, several of the members have died, give them a future, and you'll have your preferred future, the same thing for the other one."  
"I don't know if I could abandon my own real family for what I would have preferred, Falcon. Maybe it would be better if their Wing was returned to them but killed in battle. I would be better off knowing that I can always hug my daughter even if she is an immortal and a Guardian." said Wildwing, looking at Mallory and the other Ducks in the Migrator then to Falcon.  
"You two go back and you're both out of the picture. The overdose made his consciousness less acceptable to such stress and shock; you've never gone though such a thing but you have a natural talent at getting over drugging."  
"What do you mean both of us are out of the picture?" asked Wing.  
"Dead,"  
"Oh sweet mother of ducks." moaned Wildwing, as he went pale in the face. "Why did you do this to us?"  
Falcon spoke, "Switch you two around, because you'd have both died if you remained as who you were."  
"Possibly but Lord Fate probably didn't fate us to die so soon and this is just one of his ways to get us back to thinking right and seeing that things happen and we can't prevent it from happening. I want to return to my real family and my real dimension." said Wing, looking at him strongly.  
"You are a fool, Fate does Death's bidding, and Death takes all in the end."  
"If it is my time to die then let Fate decide to deal my hand to Lady Death? If not, I'll survive the trip from this body to my real body. Don't you think Dawn will know that something is different about her father and then look within her ' i father /i ' mind to find another Wing inside? She'll either seek me out to return me to my rightful body or let everything stay the way it is. But she will not be happy. I want her to be happy." said Wildwing.  
Falcon sighed, "You truly are ignorant, I save your life and the other Wing's life and your version of a thank you is making my life worse, I hope Death has you rotting in the pits of hell." with that he disappeared and time returned back to normal.

* * *

"Hey, Wing's coming around." said Duke, as he noticed Wing moving his head. The others rushed to Wing's side.  
"Wing, oh Wing, I thought I almost lost you. We went after that monster you spoke about...the Saurian that was with Dragaunus, but he vanished after hitting you hard on the head." said Mallory, as she took his hand in hers.  
"How long have I been out?" Wing asked.  
"Almost three days."  
"Damn. Any more traces of the Raptor or the power source we tracked down?" asked Wing, looking at Tanya and Mallory.  
"Nope. Not a trace of the power source. We searched as much as possible but whoever he was is gone now." said Mallory, as she looked at Wing.  
Wing frowned, this was not good, but then again, Dawn was suppose to remain in Limbo, to get used to life there, maybe being in this dimension is for the best. "Can I get out of this bed now? I would like to walk around now." asked Wing, looking at Tanya.  
"Sure. But just take it easy." said Tanya.

* * *

Wing quickly headed to the roof where he pulled a medallion from around his neck showing the first photo of Dawn, taken by Nosedive, soon after her death. He felt like he needed a photo of her and asked Dive to take a picture of him holding Dawn's body. "Oh sweetie, maybe living here will be better off for you to forget me. Maybe I can forget you." he whispered softly.  
His tears didn't have a chance to hit the ground when time seemed to still, there was someone behind him, more like two people. He heard Falcon tell the other that things are alright, and that this was her father, he turned to see, Dawn by his side, perplexed.  
"Baby doll?" whispered Wing, looking up at Dawn.  
Dawn went to her father and hugged him. "This is my daddy, I know his mind anywhere."  
"How did you find me here?" asked Wing.  
"Let's just say a friend helped." Dawn said, glancing over to Falcon. "You are not in good shape back home, dad."  
"How bad am I hurt?" Wing asked.  
"Really bad Wing, broken back, two seizures, and a stroke." said Dawn.  
"How bad is the stroke? Minor or major?" asked Wing.  
"Minor, but there will be part of your body which will have to relearn how to do things." said Dawn.  
"Like what?"  
"Your legs have been weakened. It will take a few months for you to relearn how to walk but nothing too major. But you'll never be the same." said Dawn. "Not to mention part of your long term memory is gone, you won't remember anything from after the invasion of Puckworld."  
"Even your birth and that of Jonas's?" asked Wing.  
Dawn nodded as a tear fell from her eyes, Falcon only gave him the look of I told you so.  
"I guess I have a choice to make. Dealing with staying here and keeping my memories of my firstborn daughter's birth and my son's birth or going back and relearning everything and including regaining the memories that I lost." said Wing.  
"That's true, daddy. It's your choice. I can arrange it with Lady Death so that when you die in this world, your soul will switch places with the other Wing so you can return to your body's rightful home when it comes time for you to die." said Dawn.  
"Dawn, you know I love you very much and you mean the world to me. If you can arrange it with Lady Death, I'll stay here and live with this dimensions ducks." spoke Wildwing, as tears fell from his eyes.  
Falcon smiled, "I'll talk to Death, and she'll listen to me."  
"Alright, now go and don't disappoint me, Falcon." Dawn spoke, her voice firm but her ocean blue eyes were flaming. "I want my father's soul to be returned to his rightful body at the hour of his death and that of the other Wing to return to his real body."  
Falcon stood firm and glared at her, "You don't command me Dawn and no one does."  
"You are an immortal, and below me in rank and power. Guardians command immortals and mortals alike in Limbo or wherever they may be at the moment." said Dawn. "I learned that from Lord Fate."  
Falcon made a gesture and sent Dawn against the wall, pinned to it by his own will alone.  
"You have out powered me and so you may take my title and status if you wish." said Dawn, with a strong hint of freedom in her voice.  
"Truth is all I want is an apology for being treated like a mindless servant."  
"Alright, I'm not one who avoids stating when she's wrong. And I am wrong for treating you harshly. I hope you can forgive me," said Dawn.  
Falcon smiled and released her. "I'm betting Kasar never warned you of me. It's ok, be back in a jip." he said as he disappeared. A half hour later, a small white bird landed on Dawn's shoulder with a note, which Dawn removed and the dove vanished.  
"What did the note say?" asked Wing, looking at her.  
"Lady Death has agreed to do what we had asked for. Your soul will be returned to your true body when the hour of your death arrives in this world and that of my dimension." said Dawn. "Did you really hate what I had become, daddy?"  
Wing did not answer his daughter. He looked away from her.  
Dawn made him look at her. "Dad, I know you probably think I'm happy with what I have become. But I'm not. I'm miserable. I wished I was a normal girl, living her life on Earth with her parents and friends and not some immortal Guardian, who'll live forever staying young and beautiful."  
"You feel that way, baby doll?" asked Wing, stunned to hear that coming from his daughter.  
"Yes! But this is my destiny like it or not. I must accept what my life is now." spoke Dawn, looking at her father and then looked away from him.  
Falcon just smiled, everything was falling into place.  
"Dawn, if you were just a mortal girl...you would have never had met Kaven or even fell in love with that young drake. You wouldn't even have known Kasar, let alone we would never even know him and the Guardians. Whatever your destiny is you have to accept it. Be proud of who you are. You are my daughter and I love you." said Wildwing, looking at her.  
"And I love you too, daddy." cried Dawn, as she went into his arms and they hugged for several minutes before Dawn left her father in a world that didn't have her or her younger brother in it. 


End file.
